Mansour Ebrahimzadeh’s charges were trailing in the first half when Farhad Majidi put Esteghlal ahead four minutes before half time but Seyed Mohammad Hosseini Farimani restored the parity 12 minutes from time.
Ebrahimzadeh, however, was not happy with the result.
“Our target is to win the league title and we should not drop points in home games,” he said after the match.
“Earning points at the beginning of the season is vital and we have to be more cautious to keep our hopes alive towards the end.”
“Esteghlal used four defenders and three defensive midfielders to try and control the game. They had an eye on counterattacks which paid off when they scored the goal.”
Zob Ahan will host defending Asian champions Korea Republic’s Pohang Steelers in the first leg of their ACL quarter-finals on September 15 before travelling to Pohang for the return leg a week later.